Hot wired: Computer mice

Mice. What's to say, right? You buy one, you plug it in. It moves the little pointer on the screen. End of story.

Of course, there's more to it than that. Microsoft users have, for years, sneered at their Apple foes for their pathetic mice. Sure, they crowed, your mouse looks good but quick, count the buttons. One button. One. What are you supposed to do with that? You can click on stuff, sure, but what about all those lovely contextual menus you get with the other button. Y'know, the right click? If you've got an Apple mouse you're stuck using the control button or the Apple button or something.

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APPLE'S MIGHTY MOUSE

Still, in this day and age with the Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection, you can hook any old mouse up to any old PC or Mac. The USB has freed our Apple brethren from their fates and many a Mac is controlled now by a funky functional Logitech mouse with more buttons than you've got fingers, a scroll wheel and all the ergonomics you can shake a stick at.

Still, Apple wouldn't be Apple without something up its sleeve. Forget the one button mouse, Apple's released a no button mouse.

Well, not really. At first look there's nothing to push. There's a tiny dot thing but that's the scroll wheel (no, honestly) but where are the buttons?

Actually the atrociously named Mighty Mouse has four buttons, or rather acts as though it has four buttons. Under the hood the mouse only has one actual clicker thing but because it senses where your fingers are when the clicker is clicked, it figures out which button it is you meant to push.

If that all sounds hideously complicated for a mouse, never fear. Apple thrives on complicated and builds in some odd things, like a speaker, into its mice.

The cord is short but then Apple mice tend to plug into the keyboard rather than round the back of the box like those PC mice.

Apple's releasing the Mighty Mouse in New Zealand in early September so you can test it for yourself then.

Price: $95

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TERRA TEC MYSTIFY CLAW

Of course, the true test of any serious mouse is playing games. First person shooters require a different kind of input device and Terra Tec delivers that with the claw.

First person shooters, like Quake, Half Life or Battlefield 1942, require a two-handed approach. The left hand controls the movement - forward, back, left and right - while the right hand controls the view and the important stuff: the firepower.

Typically, the left hand rests on the W, A, S and Z keys, but that leads to a complaint known in the trade as the Klingon Death Grip.

The Claw aims to keep gamers left hands free from the nasties of repetitive strain injury while simultaneously adding in more functionality.

The hand sits on the Claw with the fingertips resting on the five buttons, each of which can be mapped to any control you see fit. Walk, crawl, run - it's entirely up to you, the player.

A shift button means instead of having only five buttons on the left hand, you've really got 10, so you can add in those oddball things you don't use all the time but might need in a tight spot.

Price: shop around online but expect to pay around $85 plus shipping

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SAITEK 1600 GAMING MOUSE

Of course what you really want out of a mouse is a hair trigger mode that makes your pudgy reflexes cat-like, dazzling your opponents and making your team members glad they don't have to face your might and prowess in the field of mortal combat.

Saitek knows this and has made an optical mouse with the finest level of resolution yet seen.

Typically mice convert your movements across the mouse pad into dots on the screen. The average mouse you use today doesn't have many dots per inch (DPI) to play with. It's a crude, bludgeon approach to moving the mouse.

Gamers want finer responses and the Saitek offers a whopping 800 DPI for typical use.

But when you find yourself in a tricky spot, when all about you have lost their heads and when there's no-one to call on for help, hit the Turbo Key to bump up the mouse to 1600 DPI. Pull off those one-in-a-million game winning shots with the Saitek.

Of course, despite the Turbo Key and the Teflon coated feet (seriously), Saitek couldn't resist stuffing it up and so the mouse has blue translucent strip around the base that flashes every time you move the mouse. Way to go, Saitek.

Price: to be announced